The Tarnishing of Juxtia is crammed full of secrets, and the Mask of the Shepherdess might be the very first one in the entire game. This is located very early on, in the Valley of Juxtia.
Once you’ve located the first fountain in the game (pictured above), proceed to the left. You’ll eventually make your way up a series of ladders, then you’ll end up in an outdoor area where you’ll see the creatures with the wooden shields for the first time.
Just to the right of this area is a room that contains three ladders. You really can’t miss this section of the game, as it’s the main path and I don’t believe it’s skippable. This is the part of the game where it’s trying to teach you that you can jump from ladder to ladder.
However, instead of jumping onto the ladders, go to the left through the wall. Yes, there’s a secret area located right here:
When you get through, you’ll wind up in an open area with a couple items in it. The first is the Mask of the Shepherdess. This is a decent piece of early-game headgear for anyone who’s looking to create a stamina build, as it will give you a +2 to SP with a -1 to defense, when compared with the Juxtian Helmet (which is basically the starting piece of headgear).
On top of that, it also looks pretty awesome.
Now, I should point out that when you pick up the mask, you’re going to be ambushed by about half a dozen soldiers. They’re pretty easy, but seeing a whole group moving at you can be kind of intimidating.
But if you can survive the ambush, at the end of this section is a stack of four Solun Flakes.
Solun Flakes are incredibly useful, as they let you upgrade your weapons. This is basically the equivalent of Titanite Shards in Dark Souls, or Smithing Stones in Elden Ring.
Now, if all of these directions are confusing, I’ll show you where these items are on the world map.
And there you have it. That’s how you can get yourself the Mask of the Shepherdess and four Solun Flakes super early in The Tarnishing of Juxtia.
